


the cave in the forest

by amybri2002



Series: Sacary Village [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Adoption, Gen, Human AU, Trans!Roman, death mention, fantasy au kinda?, logan and virgil are brothers, this is. vaguely gravity falls inspired but not quite.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:41:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25314745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amybri2002/pseuds/amybri2002
Summary: After arriving in a new village to live with their supposed ‘uncle’ Janus, Virgil and Logan meet the Prince family, and find something weird deep in the forest.
Relationships: no major relationships rn but this au will eventually have moceit
Series: Sacary Village [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1833610
Comments: 14
Kudos: 44





	the cave in the forest

**Author's Note:**

> hey!!!!!  
> i. have been watching gravity falls recently and i blame that entirely for this fic. i’m also really fucking excited about this au, i have so many plans for this, and aaa. mostly i just wanted to write some momceit but the idea has somehow evolved into. this.  
> this will have a sort of storyline, although will probably be more of a collection of related one shots. (by which i mean there will be an overarching story, but each ‘chapter’ will be it’s own sort of episode dealing with a different topic (or monster ig) and some may not be connected to the story at all). due to that, i’m totally down for y’all to send requests for scenarios you’d like to see in this au, although probably won’t get round to them until i get everything set up properly (i do, of course, already have things in mind).  
> anyway, i’m very very excited about all of this, so i hope y’all enjoy!!!

Virgil fiddled with his sleeves as he stared out the window, watching the countryside zoom past, trees all blurring into one as the sun set over the fields. He found himself playing with the zip on his sleeve, moving it up and down at an increasingly faster pace, completely ignoring the annoyed glares from his brother.

"Could you _stop_ that?" Logan finally let out, trying to keep his voice at a whisper but failing.

Virgil just glared at him and zipped and unzipped harder.

With an heavy sigh, Logan leant his head back against the car seat and scrunched his eyes shut. Virgil's gaze fell to his knees and he let go of his sleeve, moving his fingers instead to the rips in his jeans, beginning to fiddle with the bits of string half-falling-off the fabric. These jeans had already been ripped when he brought them, of course, but they'd gotten worse as he constantly found himself pulling at the threads. It wasn't terrible, though, he supposed.

The car halted to a stop, causing Virgil to jerk forward. He looked up, noticing that they'd just stopped at a red light. Oh. Well, that was boring. He looked over at Logan, who still had his eyes closed, but Virgil could tell he wasn't asleep. No, he was just listening, waiting to see if this was the right moment.

It wasn't. They weren't there just yet, although they did seem to be a little closer to civilisation. The fields and trees had been replaced by little, family-owned shops and street lamps. Not many cars lined the streets, but there were a few people wandering around, adults just arriving home or teenagers lurking in the doorways of shops. This was where he and Logan would be staying for the next, what, two, three weeks? Their record so far had been a month, although they hadn't really had much time doing this whole thing. And this guy was supposedly 'family' - an uncle, or something, by the sounds of it - so maybe it would be a little different than the random couples they'd been passed around, people who couldn't deal with the fact that neither he nor Logan were perfect.

Glancing over at Logan again, Virgil noticed his older brother had now opened his eyes, and was looking out the window, scanning the area. He didn't look... all too pleased about this new development, but then again, Logan never was. It wasn't as if the two of them had much of a choice, anyway. They'd be out of here before they knew it.

The car left the main town area and drove a little through the countryside again, before turning into a smaller street, a few cottages lining the cobbled road. They stopped outside one cottage and climbed out the car, Virgil swinging his backpack over his shoulder and Logan dragging out a small suitcase. They stood for a moment just outside the wooden gate, swinging a little in the wind, and stared at the house, built of white brick and with ivy growing up the walls.

After Logan had a brief exchange with their driver, the car drove away, and Virgil and Logan were left alone on the street. The windows were dark, with no clear sign of human life within the house. Virgil looked up and down the street and saw no one else, but did hear talking coming from the garden of the house opposite their uncle's. He hummed, turning to Logan.

"We could just run," he suggested. "Like, our driver's gone, there's nothing stopping us from escaping right this second."

Logan sighed. "Virgil, do you want to die of starvation and/or murder in the middle of nowhere?"

Virgil took a moment to think of a response that was both true and also wouldn't concern Logan, who was already stressed out enough with the constant moving and the... everything. Eventually, Virgil replied, "Well, when you put it _that_ way it sounds bad, _but_ I do kinda see the appeal," which didn't particularly ease any of Logan's concerns.

"It won't be that bad here," Logan said, although he didn't sound too certain. "This guy's meant to be our uncle. Can't be that bad if he's family, right?"

Virgil rolled his eyes. "Yeah, our 'uncle' that we've never heard about before." He turned around and leant on the brick fence, looking over at the nearly identical house across the street. "Like, you'd think our parents would have mentioned him _once_."

"Maybe they did and we just didn't remember," Logan said, opening the gate and stepping into the front garden.

"I didn't even know we _had_ an uncle," Virgil said. He twisted around to face Logan and frowned. "What are you doing?"

Logan paused, his hand hovering in mid air. "My plan was to knock on the door. Then introduce myself to our uncle."

"What about our running away plan?"

"You mean _your_ running away plan that I never agreed to."

"What, so now I'm meant to just go along with your 'introducing ourselves' plan that _I_ never agreed to?"

"Yes," Logan said, "you are."

Virgil groaned, but didn't argue anymore, instead turning back to face the houses on the other side of the street. The voices from the garden had stopped, but he could now see silhouettes of people instead - specifically, a man standing in the window, seemingly looking down at the two of them. He gulped and looked away, hoping that maybe he'd just been imagining things. If someone _was_ watching them it probably wasn't anything malicious, but Virgil couldn't shake the thought away.

Logan hummed, turning back to Virgil. "Doesn't seem like anyone's in."

Virgil's head shot around. "What do you mean?"

"No one's answering the door," Logan said. "And, y'know, just looking through the window the house looks empty."

Virgil was silent for a moment, before a grin spread across his face. "Sweet!" He moved away from the wall, turning his full body around to face Logan. "Guess that means we're going with my running away plan-"

"No, Virgil, that- we're not doing that."

Virgil pouted.

"I'm going to check around the back," Logan decided, moving away from the door and heading down a passageway on the side of the house.

Virgil watched him disappear around the corner, then returned to the wall, pushing himself up to sit on it. Across the road, he noticed the door on the other house open, and a man step around, making his way towards Virgil. He was shorter than Virgil, which for a moment Virgil was quite proud of, and had a round, kind face, with dark skin and curled hair, dyed a pastel pink. He looked to be in his twenties, although his fashion choices depicted him as more of a child, with a blue t-shirt under denim overalls, as well as round glasses sitting on his nose. Virgil wasn't entirely sure what to make of him, as he stepped closer.

"Hey, uh..." He clicked his fingers and scrunched up his face, trying to remember something. "Logan, is it? I think Janus mentioned a Logan..."

Virgil shook his head. "Nope, not Logan."

"Oh." The man hummed, looking up and down the street. "So, uh, are you lost, or something?"

Virgil shrugged. "Nah, not really. Planning on doing some vandalism, maybe. Who is it that lives here?"

The man blinked, noticeably stepping back. "Uh, Janus," he said. "We're good friends. I thought he said something about having family coming over, but, uh, if you're not them then-"

Logan re-emerged from behind the house. "Who's this?" he asked, glancing suspiciously at the man.

"Oh!" The man smiled and turned to Logan, holding out a hand which Logan politely took to shake. "I'm Patton, I live across the road. I was just, uh, wondering if you kiddos needed any help, or anything."

"Perhaps we do," Logan muttered.

Virgil rolled his eyes and turned around, lifting up his headphones to his ears. He didn't play any music, instead continuing to listen to the conversation, but didn't feel like doing anymore human interaction.

"I'm Logan," Logan introduced. "This is my brother, Virgil. Whatever he said to you, it probably isn't true."

Virgil turned around and stuck his tongue out to Logan, stupidly signifying that he was listening to the conversation. Thankfully, Patton had his back turned, and so clearly hadn't seen.

"Oh, of course, Janus did also mention a Virgil," Patton said. "So you two are his... nephews? Cousins?" He paused. "Sons?"

"Nephews, apparently," Logan confirmed. "Although we have yet to actually met him in person. Would you happen to know where he is?"

Patton hummed. "He's probably in the town somewhere. I can go look for him."

Virgil jumped down from the wall, taking off his headphones and approaching Patton. "Not gonna lie, I don't know if I actually want to meet him," he said, causing Patton to jump and spin around to face him. "I mean, he's not here for our arrival, so he clearly doesn't give a shit about us, y'know?"

"Virgil-"

"What?"

Logan sighed. "Chances are, he just didn't realise what time we were coming." He turned back to Patton. "Could you help, please? Unlike my brother here, I don't particularly want to die in the wilderness."

"I never said I wanted to _die_ in the wilderness-"

"You can hang out in my house for a bit, if you'd like," Patton offered, stepped away and beginning to move to the other side of the road. "The twins can help you get settled whilst I go search for Janus."

Logan and Virgil exchanged a glance, before Logan began to follow Patton. Alarmed, Virgil grabbed Logan's arm and pulled him back, moving back around the house until they were out of ear-shot of Patton. He let go of Logan's wrist, who proceeded to rub the spot where Virgil had grabbed him.

"Are you sure about this?" Virgil asked, a twinge of worry in his voice.

Logan nodded. "Yes, Virgil. Patton seems like a nice enough guy. I mean, what do we have to lose?"

"I don't know." He began to fiddle with his zip again. "What if he's kidnapping us?"

"Virgil, look at him." Virgil glanced over Logan's shoulder, noticing that Patton still had a wide, happy smile on his face. "I'm fairly certain he isn't trying to kidnap us."

Virgil closed his eyes and breathed in. "Okay. Fine. But if we get murdered, it's your fault." He pushed past Logan and returned to Patton, who quickly let him into his house.

"There's some food in the kitchen if your hungry," Patton said, leading them into the front room. "I'd advise against cooking anything, but if you want something heating up feel free to use the microwave. Should be enough stuff to make sandwiches, though. And, of course, feel free to have any drink you want. Uh... the twins are upstairs if you need any help with anything, although you both look like very capable young boys. I'll- I'll try to be as quick as possible, but make yourself at home." He smiled, and then darted out the house.

After a few moments of staring at the door, Virgil sighed and flopped down into the sofa, taking his phone out his pocket and beginning to mindlessly play a game. Logan seemed a little more hesitant to 'make himself at home', instead just standing in the middle of the room, staring out the window.

"Y'know, I really don't like this Janus guy," Virgil finally said, to which Logan looked at him for a moment and then sat down besides him. Virgil took off his shoes and pulled his legs up onto the sofa, sitting cross-legged. "I mean, we show up and he isn't even here, we've never actually met him before in our life, he's apparently friends with this weirdo-"

"I'm sure everything will be fine," Logan said, which didn't really make Virgil feel any better. "Based on our track record, we probably won't be here much longer anyway."

"Yeah, true." Virgil let his phone fall down into his lap, before he looked around the room. It was tidy, too tidy, with a white, fuzzy rug in the middle of the wooden floor, pure white sofas, and walls painted a pale blue. On the fireplace, Virgil noticed a few photos, one of Patton and two of people he didn't recognise, but who looked pretty similar to Patton - perhaps those were the 'twins' he had mentioned.

As if one cue, a person came running down the stairs and into the living room, frowning upon spotting the two brothers. He looked very much like a younger version of Patton, but with a leaner build and well-kept dark brown hair, and no glasses. He wore fairly casual clothes, just blue jeans and a white shirt, under a red jacket with the trans pride flag containing the words 'he/him' attached. From the looks of it, he seemed to be older than Virgil - fifteen, if Virgil was to make a guess.

"Who are you?" he asked, stepping into the living room and folding his arms.

Logan stood up and held out a hand. "Logan Sanders. And my brother, Virgil. We've just moved here."

The guy stared at Logan's hand for a moment, but didn't shake it. "Why are you in our house?"

"Patton - uh, your father, I'm assuming? - let us in," Logan explained. "We're supposed to be staying with our Uncle Janus across the road, but he isn't home right now."

"Oh." He turned around, stepping back towards the stairs. "Remus!"

Another boy came stumbling down the stairs, looking vaguely annoyed but grinning wildly upon seeing Logan and Virgil. He looked very similar to the guy, although with much messier hair, longer and dyed green at the ends, and a few strands of a moustache. He wore a simple green tank top and black shorts, and Virgil wondered for a moment how he wasn't cold.

"This is Logan and Virgil," the guy introduced to Remus, as Remus stepped into the room.

"Hi! Are you burglars?"

Logan blinked. "What? No. Patton just told us to stay here whilst he went to look for our uncle."

Remus pouted. "Boring."

Logan frowned. "Would you... rather us be thieves?"

"Well, it _would_ be more exciting-"

"Don't mind my brother," the other guy interrupted, stepping in front of Remus. "Can we do anything for you?"

Logan gave him a polite smile. "We're quite alright, thank you. As I mentioned, Patton has already offered to help."

Remus pushed in front of his brother again, eyes sparkling with excitement. "You're new in town, right?"

"Correct."

"We should show you around!"

Logan glanced at Virgil, who tried to tell him to say no, but returned to Remus regardless and said, "That would be nice. Although, Patton did say to stay put-"

"We won't be long," the other guy promised. "We could show them the forest," he continued, now addressing his twin.

Remus grinned and nodded. "Yes! Oh, we haven't had anyone to explore the forest with for ages!" He grabbed Logan's hand, and began to drag him out. "C'mon!" Seeming as though he had no choice, Virgil sighed and followed the other three out the back of the house, through the fields and, once again, away from civilisation.

~*~

Patton's frown deepened as he wandered around town, still no sign of Janus in sight. Huh, that was strange. Well, it wasn't particularly unusual for Janus to disappear, sometimes for days on end, but he'd usually at least inform Patton that he'd be gone, and he rarely left when something important was happening. And this _was_ important, right? Two kids coming to live with him. Janus had been talking about these two for _ages_ , about how excited he was to have family coming round to stay, even if the circumstances weren't exactly... ideal.

Patton didn't know much about the Sanders family, but from the sounds of it those kids had been through a lot. He didn't want to dig too much, just allowing Janus to tell him what he was comfortable with him knowing, but he knew that both their parents were dead - how they died, he didn't know, but he assumed it wasn't pretty. And now Janus wasn't even here to welcome them in? It didn't make any sense.

Unless he'd forgotten about them. Maybe he'd got the day wrong?

Or maybe he was just in town, and Patton wasn't looking hard enough.

"If I were Janus, where would I be?" Patton muttered under his breath, peeking inside the local bar only to find it empty asides from the barman. The answer to the question was: not here. Janus only ever came into town for basic necessities, and didn't really involve himself with any of the residents. Asides from himself, as Patton had given Janus no other choice but to be friends, way back when Janus first moved here.

He supposed there was always the forest - Janus often disappeared into the forest for days, weeks at a time, although, again, he'd usually tell Patton. Plus, Patton didn't particularly want to go in the forest and... well, he'd heard stories, enough to make him shudder at the very thought of it. He knew that Roman and Remus frequently hung out there, even though they thought he didn't know - his boys really did think they were good at hiding things, but Patton knew everything - and, although they'd never actually provided evidence, they were certain that something was going on in there. Something that Patton _didn't_ want to find out about.

He turned into the local supermarket and wandered through the aisles, picking up a few bits for himself, as the fridges at home _were_ beginning to look a little bare, and kept an eye out for Janus as he went, figuring that it was likely that if Janus _did_ come into town it would just be for food, especially knowing that he'd have guests coming over to stay soon. But when Patton left the store, and realised that he'd checked every other store, he came to the conclusion that Janus probably wasn't in town. So instead, Patton turned back into the local bar, deciding that maybe he should ask around.

A few other people had gathered inside now, people that Patton recognised but never really spoke to. Whilst Patton did try to be friendly with everyone in the village, it was rare that he came into the bar, and talked to the (mostly straight) crowd. So instead of approaching the more intimidating men sat around drinking, Patton approached the bar, which Remy was stood behind.

Patton knew Remy fairly well, as they lived down his street and often came over for dinners. Why they had decided to work in this bar, Patton didn't know. He gave them a small smile as a hello and took a seat at the bar. Remy smiled back and immediately got to making Patton a cocktail, strawberry flavoured like he always liked. Remy always knew what Patton would want.

"So what brings you here?" Remy asked, taking off their sunglasses (they always wore sunglasses inside for some reason - Patton had yet to figure out why) and sliding the drink over to Patton.

Patton took a small sip, before replying, "I was looking for Janus."

Remy raised an eyebrow. "In _here_?"

"This is actually my _last_ stop," Patton said, with a giggle. "Couldn't find him anywhere else. Have you seen him?"

Remy shook their head. "Haven't seen him for a few weeks now. Why, is something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Patton said, although he wasn't sure how much truth there was to that statement. "It's just that he's got some kids he's meant to be taking care of. They arrived earlier today, but he isn't home."

Remy frowned. "Kids?"

"Yeah." Patton fiddled with the edges of his now empty glass. "His nephews, apparently. They do sorta look like him."

"Oh." Remy hummed. "He's never mentioned his family to me before." Remy was another person that Janus was somewhat close to, simply because they spent so much time round Patton's house. Although, he very clearly didn't trust Remy as much as Patton.

"He doesn't talk to me about them, either," Patton said. "He did say some stuff about these kids a few weeks back, though."

There was a moment of silence between them, as the men in the back started cheering - someone scored in football, by the looks of it - before Remy said, "Think he's pulled another disappearing act?"

Patton stared down into his cup, watching the ice slowly melt at the bottom. "Maybe. I- I should probably head back home. You're right, he's probably just in the forest again."

Remy nodded and slipped his sunglasses back one. "Good luck, babe. Say hi to the boys for me, yeah?"

Patton grinned. "Of course!" He got up off his chair, handing his empty glass back to Remy. "How much do I-"

"Don't worry about it."

Patton blinked. "You sure?"

"Yeah." Remy smiled. "Gift for a friend."

"O-Okay then. Thank you." Patton smiled one last time, then left the pub, heading back towards his car to drive home.

~*~

Virgil glanced nervously around the forest as the twins dragged them further in, so far in that he could no longer see the exit. This was probably fine, right? No one was going to murder him, it wasn't as if he was alone. Although, it was beginning to get darker, and the others showed no signs of wanting to go back. What if Patton returned home with Janus and discovered they were all missing? What if they _died_ in this forest and no one found them? What if they were all forgotten about?

No, no, that didn't sound right. The twins - one of whom Virgil _still_ didn't know the name of - said that they came in here often, so it was probably safe. They'd be fine.

"Hey, uh, can I ask what your name is?" Virgil eventually asked the unknown twin, beginning to feel a little uncomfortable with the silence.

Remus gasped. "Woah, he does speak!"

Virgil rolled his eyes and shoved his hands in his pockets, refusing to say anything else.

"My full name is Romulus, but I tend to go by Roman," the other twin introduced, smiling politely at Virgil. Virgil smiled back, and nodded.

"Oh! Romulus, Remus. Do I sense a theme there?" Logan said, his eyes lighting up. _Of course_ Logan would pick up on that link, and _of course_ he'd choose to be an absolute nerd over it.

"Yeah, Roman decided to be a nerd when picking out his name," Remus said, crouching down to the ground and picked up a large stick, which he proceeded to wave around in the air pretending it was a sword.

"I'm _not_ a nerd," Roman defended.

"You keep telling yourself that."

" _Shut up_."

"Nothing wrong with being interested in mythology," Logan interrupted, stepping forward to walk besides Roman, thus forcing Virgil to fall to the back of the group. "It is quite fascinating."

Roman looked at him for a moment, before looking away and beginning to walk a little faster. "Hey, Remus, we should go to that cave again!" he suggested. Virgil was just a little confused at the sudden change in conversation, but even more alarmed at the thought of exploring a _cave_.

"Uh, is that safe-"

"'Course it is!" Roman exclaimed. "We go in there all the time, right, Remus?"

Remus nodded. "Yeah!" He let his stick fall to his side, still swinging his arm back and forth as he walked. "I want to check it out again, anyway. We heard that sound last time, remember?"

"Oh yeah, that was weird." Roman hummed. "Couldn't get past that door, though."

"Door?" Virgil frowned.

"Yeah, this big ass door built of stone or metal or something. We needed, like, a code to get in it."

Logan seemed vaguely interested by that. "What sort of code?"

"Numbers? I don't know."

"Bet I could crack it."

"We spent, like, an _hour_ trying to crack it," Remus said.

"I could do it."

Roman grinned. "Let's go then! I do wanna know what's in there." He picked up the pace again, beginning to run further into the forest. With a sigh, Virgil began to run along with the others, not particularly happy with the change of pace but not really able to complain, since he was an alright runner and didn't seem to have any other choice.

Eventually, the four of them came across a cave in the side of cliff, with lights illuminating the way inside. That was weird - it was a cave, why would there be lights? Unless someone lived there? Unless... something must have been going on. Virgil wasn't sure if he wanted to find out. "You sure about this?" he asked, once again.

"Don't worry, Virge," Roman said, before frowning. "Can I call you Virge?"

Virgil shrugged. "Sure."

"Nice. Anyway, don't worry, it's completely safe."

"Why don't I believe that?"

"Don't worry, Virgil," Logan said, coming up to his side again. "We'll be fine, yeah? If it gets too much, you can always come back out."

Virgil breathed in, then out. "Okay. Yeah, sure, whatever." He followed the twins into the cave, trying his hardest to stay brave, to stay strong. Things would be fine, surely. He couldn't... Well, okay, he could think of _many_ things that could go wrong, but couldn't think of any _likely_ things that could go wrong. Still, he found himself playing with his zip again, as the four walked around the dimly lit, quiet cave.

He could hear a low rumbling, and wasn't entirely sure what to think of that. It sounded like some sort of machinery, and the thought that this may be some kind of government facility briefly crossed his mind, before he shook that thought away and figured that it was probably just _like that_ in here. Although, the twins _had_ mentioned a sound, so...

"Down here!" Remus exclaimed, shooting down a corridor to the side with Roman quickly trailing behind. Virgil and Logan exchanged a concerned, kind of afraid look, before following them. Once they reached this supposed door, however, the twins stopped, frowning. "It's... gone?"

"Not gone," Roman muttered, stepping towards a keypad to the side, a green light blinking in the darkness. "Open."

"Is someone in here?" Logan wondered, leaving Virgil's side and stepping closer towards the door. Virgil decided to stay way, way back, not wanting to know what was behind the door, or find out who had entered. This was- This was all a little too strange for Virgil, too scary, and those unlikely situations he'd thought of earlier suddenly seem way more plausible.

"Looks empty," Roman said, as he stepped into the room. Virgil peeked a glance around the three of them, still keeping his distance but... a little intrigued, he supposed. Mostly, he just wanted to try and ease his anxieties, maybe knowing that nothing was wrong would help him. And, as Roman said, the room _was_ empty, asides from a few crates. There didn't seem to be any other exits, either.

Logan looked back at Virgil and motioned for him to come closer. "C'mon, Virgil, it's safe in here."

Virgil grimaced. "No thanks, don't want to be trapped in some mystery room."

"It really is quite-" Logan's jaw dropped, and he fell silent. A look of fear grew across the other boys faces, as they all became frozen in place.

Virgil frowned. "What's up?"

Logan raised a shaky hand, finger pointing behind Virgil. Okay, that was weird, but... Gulping, Virgil turned around and soon found himself frozen in fear as well, trying to hardest not to scream. Some huge creature stood behind him, a big lizard of some sorts, with forest green scales and huge yellow eyes, glowing in the darkness, and... a pair of wings spread out behind in, talons digging into the ground.

Virgil slowly backed away, back into that small room with the others, and fell into Logan's arm, allowing Logan to grip him tight. He would be safe with Logan, right? Logan always promised to keep him safe. And-

"Close the door," Logan muttered, glancing at Remus who was the closest to the entrance.

"How the fuck am I meant to close the door-"

"I don't know, is there any buttons anywhere?"

"Here!" Roman said, stepping towards a control panel on the other side of the room. He pressed a few buttons as the dragon edged closer, before the door eventually shut tight. Virgil let out a breath, and then screamed.

"What the _fuck_?" he shouted, gaze drifting between Remus and Roman. "You didn't tell us there were fucking _dragons_ down here?"

"Hey, last time we checked there weren't any fucking dragons!" Roman shouted back, beginning to show his own fear as well. "We thought this cave was abandoned!"

"Well, clearly not, if there's all this machinery around, and working lights," Logan stated, "and, y'know, an actual dragon. Since when were _dragons_ real?"

"Look, I know Remus and I aren't exactly the smartest of people," Roman said, ignoring Remus' offended _hey_ , "but I swear we have never found _anything_ like this in here before-"

"What are we meant to _do_?" Virgil said, eyes now fixed on the closed door, trying his hardest not to think about the scratching on the other side. "We can't just stay in here forever!"

"You have your phone, Virgil, right?"

"Well, yeah, but who am I meant to call? Our fucking social worker?" Virgil groaned. "Just _imagine_ that conversation. 'Oh yeah, my brother and I are trapped in a cave with a dragon, send help please'. Be realistic Logan."

Logan bit his lip. "We could call Patton? Either of you two have your phone?"

"Left mine at home," Roman said, at the same time that Remus said, "Mine's dead."

" _Great._ Either of you two know his phone number, maybe?"

There was silence for a moment, before Roman quietly said, "Who remembers phone numbers anymore?"

Logan sighed. "Okay, yeah, didn't think so."

Again, silence. After a few minutes, Virgil blinked. "The scratching's stopped."

"Huh." Logan broke away from Virgil, despite Virgil's silent protests, and approached the door again. "Do you think it's gone?"

"Maybe." Roman's hand hovered over the panel again. "Should I open the door?"

Virgil's eyes widened. "No. It might still be waiting for us."

"We can still _close_ the door afterwards-"

"Open it, Roman," Logan ordered.

The door slowly opened to reveal the dragon laid on the floor, either asleep or dead - Virgil wasn't sure which one he hoped for more - as well as a man standing over the body, trying to catch his breath. After looking at each other, the four slowly made their way out of the room and towards the man. He was older, probably early thirties, one eye brown and the other green, a scar running down his face over the green eye. He wore a yellow shirt under a brown leather jacket, and a yellow beanie covering his somewhat messy brown hair. Virgil couldn't help but think that he recognised him, or that he reminded him of _somebody_.

"Janus?" Roman said, stepping forward.

_Janus_. Was- Was this their uncle?

"Uncle Janus," Logan said, stepping forward as well. "Right? Janus Sanders?"

The man looked Logan up and down, and then moved over to Virgil, a smile growing across his face. "Logan, Virgil. I've- I thought you were arriving tomorrow?"

Logan frowned. "No. We arrived today."

"Oh." Janus glanced around. "Well, uh..." He paused, frowning a little. "What are you all doing here?"

"Exploring!" Remus exclaimed, to which Janus sighed.

"I thought I told you boys that the forest was dangerous," he said.

"Yeah, which makes it even _cooler_."

Once again, Janus sighed. "Well, I'm sorry you all had to see that. We- We should probably get back. Your dad must be wondering where you are, right?"

"He went to look for you," Roman stated.

Janus closed his eyes. "Of course he did. We should... head back anyway." He turned, beginning to lead the four of them out the cave, not even taking notice of the dragon still lying on the floor. "You won't tell Patton about any of this, will you?" The twins nodded.

"Are you-" Virgil breathed in. "Are you going to explain any of this?"

Janus hummed. "Later. For now, we need to make sure you're all safe. This cave isn't exactly for a playground for children."

"I'm not a child-"

"I'll explain later, Virgil," Janus said, "I promise."

~*~

Patton arrived home to discover the four teens and Janus sitting around the table in the kitchen, all with a hot drink in front of them, Janus taking small sips and the others just staring into the liquid, looking rather shaken. A little confused, Patton hovered near the table, waiting for Janus to explain himself.

"Ah, Patton," Janus eventually said, "thank you ever so much for taking care of my boys. I'm sorry I couldn't be there for their arrival."

"I've been looking _everywhere_ for you!" Patton exclaimed, sounding like he _wanted_ to be angry but mostly just... relieved, that Janus and the boys were okay. "What happened?"

"I just had a little trouble to clear up in the forest, nothing to worry about," Janus stated. "Totally forget my nephews were arriving today. But, again, thank you for taking care of them. They've already seemed to make friends with Remus and Roman, at least."

Patton wanted to argue more, but seeing the small smile slowly growing on each of the boys faces made him soften up. He didn't know what had happened, but whatever had gone on must have made the four of them like each other, and... well, the twins had never really had many friends before, so maybe this would do them some good. Patton couldn't really complain, anyway. And it didn't look like anyone was hurt.

"Now that you're back, though, I suppose I'll be taking Logan and Virgil back home," Janus announced, beginning to stand up. "It _is_ getting awfully late."

Patton considered him for a moment, before smiling a little. "No, don't go just yet, at least stay for supper?"

After a moment of silence, Janus sat back down. "Oh, all right. You _are_ an excellent cook."

Patton grinned and went to get started on supper, occasionally glancing back at the table. It looked as though all five of them were trying to hide something, like they'd just done something extraordinary. Janus had mentioned that he'd been in the forest - what was going on there?

Either way, as Patton prepared the dinner, he came to the conclusion that life was about to get a whole lot more interesting.


End file.
